The manner in which England were dispatched by India at Lord's is a clear
indicator that Alastair Cook was the wrong choice as captain and his reign
must end

It is a simple question. Now that Alastair Cook has declined to give up the captaincy for the benefit of the team, will the England set-up have the balls to sack him?

The selectors and the managing director, Paul Downton, gave Cook their full backing at the beginning of the summer. But it is obvious to most ex-players that he cannot cut it. Tactically he has not got it and the team are playing poor cricket.

It is important that the selectors do not become stubborn and stick with Plan A in an effort to avoid embarrassment. We all make mistakes and there is no shame in admitting they got this wrong.

This is a real crossroads for the England team. We have got youngsters coming into this side who have done very well but it is the five senior players who have been poor. Cook has made 115 runs in seven innings while it is 173 in seven for Ian Bell. As for Matt Prior, he has had one good innings and five failures this summer and he is dropping catches as well.

James Anderson always seems to bowl back of a length and cannot pitch it up, while Stuart Broad looks tired and has lost his zip. So what chance have the youngsters got if the Big Five are not performing? These are two evenly matched teams but England have spluttered and stuttered their way through four Test matches this summer.

The cricket England played after lunch yesterday was mind-boggling. India had three men back on the fence, and fast bowlers trying to bounce them out with a ball that was 80 overs old. With seconds to go before the new ball was due, Prior kept hooking away and holed out.

It was awful.

Stokes was on a pair and he could not stop himself. Then Root, who had played beautifully, did the same. Three big wickets in the context of the match, all falling into the most obvious trap you could imagine.

It is as if England have no direction and there’s no common sense in the dressing room. Cook needs to go as captain and maybe stay for one more Test as a batsman only. In the famous Ashes series of 1981, Ian Botham resigned the captaincy after making a pair at Lord’s, releasing all the mental pressure on himself, and then went out and performed heroics at Headingley.

Maybe the same process could work for Cook.

We saw Cook receive an almost silent welcome from the MCC members on Sunday as he walked back through the pavilion gate, just as Botham did all those years ago. The issues are staring everybody in the face.

Prior’s wicketkeeping is not special and you get the impression that he needs to go and rest his injuries. He has been playing only partly fit and he is not moving very well for catches or byes. I realise that Joss Buttler and Jonny Bairstow may be no better with the gloves, but they cannot be any worse and we need to get some fresh blood in, some energy. Also I would like to see Broad left out for Chris Jordan at Southampton.

I do not think we can go too much further than that. We do not have too many good players to bring in. You always have to be sensible about it and not go overboard. Adam Lyth, the Yorkshire opener, is a possibility if Cook cannot find his way back into form; he has got five hundreds so far this season.

We have to get some more energy into the team, something different, because England cannot go on in the same old way. They are patchy and poor.

It might sound harsh to say it, but neither Alastair’s feelings nor anyone else’s should come into the equation; this is about what is best for English cricket. We cannot afford to do nothing; it is not acceptable. I fear that James Whitaker – the chairman of selectors – is going to just stick his head in the sand and carry on hoping for Cook to make runs and the cricket to change. It will not happen. Leadership is about making big decisions. And if our selectors cannot or will not make those decisions then Downton, as managing director, should sack them.

Players and coaches are always telling us how much they like Alastair. What else can they say when he is their boss? But being a nice guy is not a prerequisite for the captaincy of England.

Then I hear people say: “Who would we put in his place? There isn’t anybody out there!” But how the hell do they know? You cannot tell what somebody will bring to the role until you give him a chance. And neither should you keep a captain who is on a losing streak, and can’t buy a run, simply because you’re not sure who else to appoint. Anything would be better than what we are dishing up at the moment.